Higher Education Is A Priority

Recently the Lansing State Journal ran a terrific editorial about the future of the mid Michigan economy. You can find it as an attachment below.

Its message is applicable to the entire state. Its quite simple: job growth and particularly good-paying jobs from today forward are increasingly knowledge-based. They site two companies – one in software development, the other in alternative energy – which, even in the terrible downturn, have job openings but can’t find workers with the right skills.

When the economy improves and job growth resumes it will be concentrated in the knowledge-based economy. Not just high tech but also sectors like health care; education; finance and insurance; and professional and technical services. This has been the trend for the past two decades. And its accelerating. There is no turning back the clock to a prosperous factory-based Michigan.

There is a real risk – as hard as it to imagine today with such high unemployment – that the biggest impediment to future economic growth in the state will be skill shortages. Not enough workers able to do the high skill/high pay jobs of the future.

The editorial goes on the argue that skill development – what we call preparing talent – should be central to the state’s economic growth strategy. That means making higher education funding a priority rather than one of the first items cut as it has been for the past decade.

The evidence is clear from around the country: the most high prosperous places will be those with the greatest concentration of talent from anywhere on the planet. So that Michigan’s economic growth priority one is to prepare, retain and attract talent. As the LSJ editorial points out supporting Michigan’s terrific system of higher education should be a big part of that strategy.

Recently the Lansing State Journal ran a terrific editorial about the future of the mid Michigan economy. You can find it as an attachment below.

Its message is applicable to the entire state. Its quite simple: job growth and particularly good-paying jobs from today forward are increasingly knowledge-based. They site two companies – one in software development, the other in alternative energy – which, even in the terrible downturn, have job openings but can’t find workers with the right skills.

When the economy improves and job growth resumes it will be concentrated in the knowledge-based economy. Not just high tech but also sectors like health care; education; finance and insurance; and professional and technical services. This has been the trend for the past two decades. And its accelerating. There is no turning back the clock to a prosperous factory-based Michigan.

There is a real risk – as hard as it to imagine today with such high unemployment – that the biggest impediment to future economic growth in the state will be skill shortages. Not enough workers able to do the high skill/high pay jobs of the future.

The editorial goes on the argue that skill development – what we call preparing talent – should be central to the state’s economic growth strategy. That means making higher education funding a priority rather than one of the first items cut as it has been for the past decade.

The evidence is clear from around the country: the most high prosperous places will be those with the greatest concentration of talent from anywhere on the planet. So that Michigan’s economic growth priority one is to prepare, retain and attract talent. As the LSJ editorial points out supporting Michigan’s terrific system of higher education should be a big part of that strategy.

Lou Glazer is President and co-founder of Michigan Future, Inc., a non-partisan, non-profit organization. Michigan Future’s mission is to be a source of new ideas on how Michigan can succeed as a world class community in a knowledge-driven economy. Its work is funded by Michigan foundations.

This Post Has 4 Comments

I’d like to see our cities develop strategies to attract young talent, independent of the statewide push for skill development. These strategies might be direct – perhaps Detroit could open a Center for Talent Development, which would send representatives to colleges across the country; identify potential immigrant populations and craft strategies uniquely for them; create a life in the city internship program, to expose young workers to life in the D.

Great suggestions! Attracting immigrants, offering internships that have a real chance of turning into a job, promoting what Detroit has to offer for young professionals are all items that should be on the region’s and state’s priority list. Your comments also raise the larger issue of what matters more: education or retaining and attracting talent. Where we have ended up is both should be priorities. Education as much for moral reasons as economic. Retaining and attracting talent because it probably matters most to whether we are going to prosperous again.

Education for moral reasons is a good way to frame it. We don’t want to build a great city by attracting great people from everywhere else, while keeping vulnerable citizens who already live here at the bottom of the social ladder.

This is from “Michigan’s Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: First Annual Progress Report” published in February 2008:

“Higher wages have been a competitive disadvantage for Michigan in retaining manufacturing jobs. Lower wages in the knowledge-based sectors of the economy – where most of the job growth and good-paying jobs are – should be a competitive edge for Michigan.”

This left me scratching my head, given all the emphasis on increasing educational attainment and talent retention in Michigan. Lower wages in the knowledge-based sectors can only drive out what few college-grads Michigan still has. To see them as a competitive advantage is penny-wise/pound-foolish. We need to give college-grads a reason to stay, something local businesses have taken no responsibility for, despite the critical role they play. Low wages equals unqualified applicants, not a competitive edge.